Old school fans of the Resident Evil franchise know the struggle of having very few weapons around at any one time. Before the 5th and 6th games, guns were often in short supply, with ammo sparse in the survival horror series.

Now, for better or for worse, Capcom have confirmed that the next iteration in the franchise, Resident Evil VII, will have very few guns for the protagonist to find. In an effort to make the game feel more like its popular predecessors, Resident Evil VII will star a new "normal" protagonist who is far from a kick-ass killing machine. Director Koushi Nakanishi in a recent interview with Eurogamer, announced that the upcoming horror title "is not going to be a gun-fest."

"It's a normal person protagonist. We're getting back to basics - in Resident Evil 1 Chris was not a comic book hero, he was a special forces agent but he wasn't as advanced a fighter as later in the series," Nakanishi stated.

Combat will not be entirely absent from the game and many players have already discovered the demo's secret axe that can be found in the kitchen after a little problem-solving. That said, the lack of weaponry really helps give horror fans a more thrilling experience, so perhaps an absence of guns will be a step in the right direction for the Resident Evil series.

Healing will also be in the game, with a familiar item returning to perform this role once again. Producer Masachika Kawata confirmed the existence of herbs in Resident Evil VII which will help restore the player back from the brink of death. No herbs have been found in the game's demo, though Capcom have revealed that the gameplay featured in the free-to-play trial will not be present in the full game, so there may be a lot of changes once Resident Evil VII releases early next year.

If they haven't already, fans can download the Resident Evil VII demo from the PlayStation store, so long as they have a valid PS Plus subscription. If it turns out that the lack of guns isn't your thing, Capcom recommends checking out Umbrella Corps, a more gunplay-heavy game set in the same universe. Nakanishi commented that the developer was breaking up these classic Resident Evil aspects into different titles in order to improve the series' gameplay.

Resident Evil VII will be available on January 24th, 2017 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation VR, and Xbox One.